Honey bees are crucial for many ecosystems, pollinating a large percentage of the world’s wild plants and agricultural crops, including many fruits, vegetables, and nuts essential for human consumption. Despite their industrious nature and defensive capabilities, honey bees are a valuable food source for various animals, making them vulnerable to predation. Their colonies, rich in honey, pollen, and protein-packed larvae, attract a diverse array of predators.
Insect Predators
Wasps, including yellow jackets and hornets, aggressively raid hives to capture adult bees and larvae for their young. Some hornet species, such as the Asian giant hornet, can decimate entire colonies.
Praying mantises snatch honey bees mid-flight with swift reflexes. Dragonflies also capture bees from the air, using agile flight. Robber flies, or assassin flies, target honey bees in flight, injecting them with paralyzing saliva and digestive enzymes before consuming their liquefied internal organs.
Avian Predators
Bee-eaters are specialized avian predators that skillfully catch bees in mid-air. They handle stinging insects by rubbing the bee against a perch to remove the stinger before consumption.
Other bird species like shrikes, swifts, swallows, and kingbirds also include honey bees in their diet, catching them during flight. Woodpeckers may excavate nests in tree cavities to access larvae and adult bees. European honey buzzards specifically seek out bee and wasp nests, primarily feeding on larvae, pupae, and honeycombs.
Mammalian and Other Vertebrate Predators
Bears, including black and brown bears, raid beehives for sweet honey and protein-rich bee larvae. They can cause extensive damage by toppling hives and tearing apart combs to access the contents.
Skunks are frequent nocturnal visitors to bee yards, scratching at hive entrances to lure out guard bees, which they then consume. They chew the bees to extract internal fluids, leaving discarded exoskeletons. Raccoons also raid hives, often tearing them apart to access honey and bee brood.
Badgers can threaten ground-nesting bee colonies, digging to access honey and larvae. Shrews and mice, while smaller, enter hives during colder months, consuming bees and pollen, and damaging combs to build nests. Amphibians like frogs and toads, and reptiles such as lizards, opportunistically prey on honey bees. Frogs and toads often wait near hive entrances, using sticky tongues to capture bees, while lizards, including skinks and anoles, may ambush foraging bees or those near the hive.